Dana Gas Starts Upgrade for El Wastani Gas Plant

Dana Gas, the Middle East’s leading regional private sector natural gas company, plans to conduct a major maintenance and tie-in work program in the El Wastani Plant. The maintenance and enhancement project will start on February 28 and requires temporary shut down for approximately two weeks.

During the two week maintenance period, the Company will work on a major facility and equipment upgrade as it aims to expand its production output capacity by 40 mmscfd to 200 mmscfd, which represents a 25% increase. This is equivalent to 6,650 barrels of oil per day (boepd). Following the shutdown, the additional capacity will allow increased production from the Salama/Tulip, Faraskur and South Abu El Naga fields via a new pipeline tie-in. In addition, the scheduled maintenance work including modifications, modernization and de-bottlenecking will assist in enhancing the plant life.

Dr. Mark Fenton, Dana Gas Egypt General Manager, said: “A scheduled shutdown of the El Wastani facility for capacity enhancement and maintenance was planned as soon as we had received permission to commercialize the new fields. It is a necessary work and the tie-in of the new wells along with the maintenance program ensures that the plant is also fully upgraded prior to new wells coming on stream during the year. The result will see our production rise by 6,650 boepd and is in line with our stated ambition of increasing production to meet the local demand.”

Last week, the Company announced that it had signed an agreement with the Egyptian government to develop its first offshore concession in Egypt, in the North El Arish 2,980 sq. km. (Block 6) Concession Area, offshore the eastern Nile Delta. Dana Gas also announced that it had been awarded a new development lease at Balsam, in addition to increasing the areas of its current El Basant and Sama development leases to encompass the Allium and West Sama discoveries, respectively.

Dana Gas is currently the 6th largest gas producer in Egypt, and operates in the Nile Delta through the El Wastani Petroleum Company (Wasco), Dana Gas’ joint-venture company with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), where almost all of its 695 employees are Egyptians. In 2013, production in Egypt averaged 36,700 boepd, a significant year on year increase of 14%. During the third quarter, the Company announced that it had achieved the highest production levels (equivalent to 41,500 boepd) in Egypt in the last two years.

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